Chapter 87 – Gambling (2)
“You mean Thirteenth Street, the one in Grey City? Oh, it’s too far away from here. How about the Yue Pavilion?” With a sneer, Hua Cao rolled his beautiful eyes, as he proposed his request. For a young lord like him, the girls in Thirteenth Street were considered to be of low quality; he’d rather go to the Yue Pavilion, which was renowned for their enchanting girls, as well as their fancy expenses. Rumors had it that it was the most expensive brothel throughout the whole Mars Prefecture.
“No problem! Yue Pavilion it is!” After a little while, Qinghan agreed. Although the expenses in the Yue Pavilion were unimaginably high, he believed that the Yue family wouldn’t charge him the regular price.
“Since we still have to be at this place for another month, I suggest we fight against each other each day, with each round lasting for one full hour. I won’t attack, and if you stab me three times, you’ll win one round. However, to ensure my safety, only wooden swords are allowed as a weapon. With the thirty days of this month, if you can beat me sixteen times, you’ll be the final winner! What do you guys think?”
“Really? You won’t attack me?” Hua Cao blinked his eyes in unbelief, and he even thought that Qinghan had taken too much wine today, otherwise he wouldn’t make such a silly bet.
As a cultivator in the third level of the Realm of the General, Hua Cao was proud of himself. In addition, his special techniques – the Invisible Technique, and Figure Replication Technique, would also contribute to his overall ability in cultivation. In comparison, Qinghan was only in the first level of the Realm of the General, but had brazenly declared that he wouldn’t attack but only defend throughout the fight. How ridiculous! Even if Qinghan integrated with his holy-grade battle beast, Hua Cao firmly believed that he would still surpass him in speed by using his special technique. As long as Qinghan stayed defensive and didn’t attack, Hua Cao was confident to stab him thirty times, rather than three times!
Looking at Qinghan’s sincere expression, Hua Cao grew suspicious, rather than happy. Because in his opinion, he would be a hundred percent winner, there was no need to fight at all. After some pondering, Hua Cao was afraid that Qinghan might intend to drag him into a plot or something.
“What is his real purpose?” He couldn’t help murmuring.
“Come on, I don’t breed any filthy plans. Yes or no? Otherwise, I’ll negotiate with Feng Zi instead.” With Hua Cao’s investigative scanning, Qinghan was struck by a shudder of a creepy feeling, half angry, half laughing at his insistence on getting to the bottom of this matter.
“Yes!” When Qinghan was about to turn around, Hua Cao hastily replied with a crisp sound. After all, he found himself with nothing to lose in this bet. Furthermore, if he won, he would enjoy the treatment of the Yue Pavilion for a whole month. Why not?
“Okay, I’ll arrange someone to patrol around us, in case of any emergency. Later on, let’s begin our first round!” Qinghan replied merrily, before he turned around towards Shiqi.
During the two months in this place, Qinghan had made some improvement in his Mysterious Trace Step. Strangely, he found the best way to practice was to fight with the enemies, because one could only fully unleash his potential when he was put at risk. To his disappointment, the number of teleported demons and barbarians had decreased sharply, that was why he decided to find a partner to help him practice his Mysterious Trace Step. Of course, Qinghan didn’t choose his partner randomly, he had some criterions. Among all the members of the super elite team, the one from the Hua Family boasted the highest speed, because of their special technique. Therefore, Hua Cao turned out to be his chosen partner. In order to raise Hua Cao’s interest, Qinghan had thought of this bet, hoping that Hua Cao would exert his full power in every fight.
……
Several minutes later, Shiqi had arranged everything as per Qinghan’s request. So he turned to Qinghan, and nodded to him. Actually, as an adopted child of the Ye family, he knew something about the Mysterious Trace Step, which great elder Ye Qingniu had mastered very well. In the Mars Prefecture, Ye Qingniu was known for his “unmatched steps”. As a disciple of Qinghan, he was rather happy to see his master obtain a new technique.
“Let’s begin!” With Shiqi being the timekeeper, Qinghan yelled at Hua Cao, and immediately integrated with his battle beast. Instead of forming an armor of Battle Qi, Qignhan unleashed his Battle Qi under his feet, making his pair of boots shine like jewelry.
“Haha, watch out!” Hurriedly, Hua Cao made a wooden sword from a branch, and held it firmly in his hands. With a curl of his lips, he disappeared out of the blue. It was only the very beginning of the fight, yet he had already concealed himself. Since Qinghan had promised not to attack, Hua Cao could lurk around him in a way Qinghan would never discover…
Without any sign of nervousness, Qinghan closed his eyes, and pricked his ears. By fully using his sensory organs, he was able to feel the flowing of the air in the surroundings.
All of a sudden…
Qinghan opened his eyes, and the Battle Qi under his feet was revolving drastically, which made him slip sideways, rather than retreat. In front of him, a wooden sword, as well as the figure of Hua Cao gradually appeared in the air. To Hua Cao’s astonishment, Qinghan had successfully escaped his first stab! Without giving much thought to this, Hua Cao stepped forward, when his body suddenly wobbled for some seconds until three figures of him loomed in front of Qinghan. All three figures were reaching out their arms, pointing the tip of their wooden sword at Qinghan.
“Figure Replication!”
Out of desperation, Qinghan shook his head. By using his special techniques, Hua Cao had definitely gained the upper hand. Looking at the almost identical figures, Qinghan failed to distinguish which was the original one. In order not to be defeated in the first round, Qinghan unleashed all of his Battle Qi, and walked on the ground in eighteen creepy styles of steps.
“What on earth are they doing?”
Obviously, this fight had grabbed the attention of others. Qingcheng and Qingwu, who weren’t on duty today, went towards them and stood alongside Shiqi. Out of curiosity, they kept watching the three figures chasing after Qinghan. Without any attacks, Qinghan walked in weird steps, dodging at a high speed. On the open space, they jumped up and down, ran back and forth, very much like four ghosts.
“Miss Qingcheng, and Miss Qingwu, they’re actually practicing their cultivation.” Shiqi replied in an official tone, while his eyes swept the surroundings in high vigilance.
“Bullshit! Of course I know they’re practicing. Eh, why’s Qinghan’s style of steps so similar with my grandpa’s Running Bull Step?” Qingwu glared at Shiqi, and pouted in great confusion.
“Haha, they’re the same. Annoyed by the silly name, your grandfather had changed the name of this technique.” Shiqi chuckled, as he replied.
“The Ye family had taught Qinghan such a great technique? Their expectations for him must be really high!” Secretly, Qingcheng was happy for Qinghan learning a new technique. When Qinghan was fighting against enemies, she had already noticed his mysterious style of steps. Now, she was sure it must be the rare technique – Mysterious Trace Step, one of the few saint-level techniques!
Based on common practice, the saint-level technique wouldn’t be given to anyone below the Realm of the Emperor. But, Qinghan was an exception! Qingcheng felt so proud of him. On second thought, she raised some doubt about the reason why the Ye Family, without precedent, would inherit such rare technique to Qinghan. How would the Ye Family benefit from this?
- Swoosh! -
Like two frolic children, Hua Cao and Qinghan moved from one place to another – sometimes they appeared on a tree, sometimes in a stack of hay, and other times in the lake… How lively they were! Since the Hua Family was famous for their speed, Hua Cao undoubtedly outpaced Qinghan, and chased the latter unswervingly. However, not a single time did Qinghan fail to escape from Hua Cao’s stab. Owing to Qinghan’s mysterious footsteps, Hua Cao missed each opportunity to stab him when he got close.
……
“Young lord Qinghan, you’ve lost!”
With a bright smile hanging on his face, Shiqi was quite amazed by the endurance of his master. Qinghan’s performance was beyond his expectations, given the fact that he had only been practicing the Mysterious Trace Step for two months.
Both Qingcheng and Qingwu stood there with tears rolling down their laughing face, waiting for the end of the fight. Hua Cao walked towards them, with a “show-off” attitude, although he was exhausted, and was annoyed by Qinghan’s weird footsteps. For quite a number of times, when he was about to stab him, Qinghan had escaped, which in some way had discouraged him. He was confident, however, to beat Qinghan within a shorter period of time tomorrow.
